This is me (Sarhn) ~ being open, honest and accountable on my quest to live sustainably….

Main menu

Post navigation

Do you find it all too hard?

I’ve been thinking and pondering what the biggest reason is, that stops people from living a more sustainable life.

For the record, I actually believe there are very few people who simply do not care about environmental issues. What I do believe however is that most people do care but are unsure what they can do to make a difference. It all feels, sounds and looks overwhelming and hence it all becomes too hard to make any changes.

Like everything in this world, if you think it is too hard then unfortunately that will become your truth and reality.

What if you changed your thinking just slightly? What if instead of feeling that you needed to make huge changes instantly, that you decided you would start by simply making one smaller change?

Like any target or goal worth reaching, the secret is to break it down to smaller and perhaps easier goals along the way. For many people, focusing on the destination is so overwhelming that they don’t progress any further and hence miss a very important lesson – it is not just about the destination but the journey along the way.

If we all instantly, over night achieved our goals, what lessons would we have missed? For me, I would never have realised that I could save more money living my ‘greener’ life and I would have missed out on so many other little gems of wisdom’s learnt.

The very first day I decided to travel on my green journey, I looked around and made a decision that I would start with just one thing that I could change (didn’t have the energy or knowledge to change everything all at once). That one thing for me was to reduce the amount of plastic bags I accepted. Here is the story I wrote about this time in my life.

Do you deeply desire to live a more sustainable life?

If you answered yes, don’t allow thoughts of “it’s all too hard” determine your response. Remember it is You who controls your thinking but if you are not aware of your thinking, it can control You.

Here is my suggestion on how to start towards making a ‘green’ change:

Step 1: Select just one small and appealingly easy area in which you can change. For example mine was to reduce the amount of plastic bags accepted at the grocery store.

Step 2: Have a little plan. For example if you have decided to reduce the amount of plastic bags used, then make it easy for yourself to achieve this by having green bags in your car or at the front of the house etc. This will help you not to forget them, next time you go shopping.

Step 3: Don’t beat yourself up if your plan is not executed perfectly. Remember this is a journey.

Step 4: When your plan goes well and you have achieved your desired change, then feel good about it!

Step 5: When you are ready and you are feeling good about your first change, you can look for other areas in your life that you believe you can change as well.